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The impact of forced abstinence on gambling: A natural ABA design study
Journal of Behavioral Addictions ; 11:95-96, 2022.
Article in English | EMBASE | ID: covidwho-2009757
ABSTRACT
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and responses used to mitigate the spread such as selective closure of non-essential businesses, have been far-reaching. Some of these impacts include changes in health, economic, social and recreation. Included among other non-essential business, in-person gambling venues were closed across Canada. Yet, online gambling opportunities remained available, making this period both a historical first in Canada, and a natural experiment. The current study examined quantifiable ramifications of the sudden forced abstinence from in-person gambling during the nation-wide lockdown in Canada, and what changes occurred six-months later upon reopening. For this cohort study, pre-pandemic base line data was provided six-month before the lockdown by online panel participants (n = 2,790), who were then re-surveyed during the national lockdown and again six-months postlockdown. Nearly one-third of gamblers reported a complete cessation of gambling during the lockdown period. For those who continued gambling, quantitative data indicated signifi-cant decreases on all gambling engagement

measures:

frequency, time spent in gambling sessions, money spent, and the number of game types played. This was followed by significant increases on each engagement measure six-months post-lockdown. Although these increases did not return to pre-pandemic engagement levels. Problem gambling within the whole sample generally declined during lockdown, however, significant increases in highrisk gambling were evidenced six-months later. In fact, engaging in online gambling and COVID-specific changes in health, employment, and social isolation across the closure and re-opening periods were independent predictors for classification as a problem gambler sixmonths after the lockdown.
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Full text: Available Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: EMBASE Type of study: Experimental Studies Language: English Journal: Journal of Behavioral Addictions Year: 2022 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: EMBASE Type of study: Experimental Studies Language: English Journal: Journal of Behavioral Addictions Year: 2022 Document Type: Article